According to Bill Maher, the Clint Eastwood film American Sniper is a success because audiences “lap up” to a ‘psychopath’ hero.

During his show, Real Time on HBO, Maher went on to label the the film as a blast of patriotism which made audiences feel good about the war in Iraq. He then went on to rip the movie’s main character Chris Kyle.

Chris Kyle – Image courtesy of breitbart.com

Maher went on to read excerpts from Kyle’s autobiography, which was written right before he was tragically killed in February 2013.

In the experts, Kyle said he enjoyed war and called the Iraqi insurgents a.k.a al-Qaeda in Iraq, who are now known as ISIS, “savages”

Maher chose certain excerpts in the book American Sniper, where Kyle said ‘I love killing bad guys – even with the pain I loved what I was doing.”

Maher continued in his criticism of Kyle, where he picked out another expert where Kyle said, “maybe war isn’t really fun but I certainly was enjoying it”

In the book, Kyle doesn’t hide his deep seeded hatred for the people he was fighting. He summed it up in one line in the book, when referring to the 160 confirmed kills he had during his time as a Navy Seal saying, “I hate the damn savages”

Maher compared the film to another film about the Iraq War, “Hurt Locker”, which wasn’t exactly a box office hit, but was applauded by Movie critics.

Maher said: ‘Hurt Locker’ made $17million because it was a little ambiguous and thoughtful… [American Sniper] is just “American hero! He’s a psychopath patriot, and we love him.”

The movie has gotten rave reviews but has drawn criticism from the likes of film director Michael Moore and Seth Rogen.